mps budget

Only in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is uncertainty about the future a massive problem that no one can do anything about. (Doesn’t every business face uncertainty about the future? Aren’t they unsure of how many customers they will have? Doesn’t the changing world mean that what they’re selling may have to change?)

Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on an analysis of school spending. According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau called Public Education Finances: 2010, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) had 82,096 students in 2009-2010, revenue of $1.27 billion (p. 75), and expenditures of $1.26 billion (p. 77). It also reported “current spending” of $14, 019 per student in MPS.

Except there are a couple of problems with this $14,019 figure, mainly that it does not reflect all of MPS’s spending.

The first thing you’ll hear is how the district doesn’t have money, and more tax money needs to be directed to MPS because it’s for the children. But the problem is not that the district doesn’t have enough money. I’ve reported several times on how the enrollment is declining while the budget keeps going up. The total budget gets increased year after year, and on a per student basis, the budget is skyrocketing. Witness:

The 07-08 budget was $1.19 billion. The 08-09 budget was $1.24 billion. The 09-10 budget was $1.34 billion.

And it’s worse if you look at spending per student. In 06-07, they spent $12,976 per student. In 07-08 they spent $13,758 per student. In 08-09 they spent $14,520 per student. In 09-10, they spent $16,385 per student.

The clowns running Milwaukee Public Schools never fail to provide ample fodder for articles at the Fraud Files. I have written several articles here on how taxpayers are being cheated out of their hard earned money. We’ve made it too easy for MPS to do this to us.

We’ve been led to believe “it’s for the children.” No, it’s not. It’s for the employees, both unionized employees and administration. We’ve been fed the lie that more money equals better education. MPS has clearly demonstrated that’s not the case, wasting more than $14,000 per child per school year and still having a large percentage of children who can’t read or do math.

It’s amazing what several hundred thousand a million dollars will buy you these days. Get ready for an opinion from McKinsey & Co. that says Milwaukee Public Schools suck. (And I’ve been telling you that for free!)